Ode to Charlotte York Goldenblatt

Did I tell you how much I love my Cricut.  Ok...I love my Cricut.

I made the base of this card about a month ago.  I like the color combination of pink and brown.  I didn't know what I was going to add to the front of the card, but when my Forever Young Cricut cartridge arrived and I opened it up, the little light-bulb flickered.  I love all of the images on the cartridge, but found this purse to be the perfect fit for my card.  Once assembled, it screamed Charlotte York Goldenblatt from Sex and the City.  I like all the gals in SNTC and will probably create a card representing each of the ladies at some point in time.

The card is layered in Vintage Pink and brown (sorry, didn't write down the the exact color name) for the brown cardstock from Bazzill Basics and this cool decorative geometrical design cardstock from Jolie's Chocolat. The pad is awesome and have created a bunch of cards using the decorative paper.  I highly recommend purchasing it if you get a chance.  I machine stitched the decorative paper to the card using brown thread.  I purposely created the stitching with a few waves to add a little dimension to the overall feel of the card.  The inside of the card is also layered in browns and pink.

Now for the purse and accessories....I used a different sheet from the Chocolat pad for the outside of the purse and layered the same decorative sheet used for the main frame of the card for the lining of the purse.  I added some beads to the purse for a decorative feel.  Of course no purse is complete without accessories.  I cut out gloves, lipstick, and a mirror using pink, brown and gold cardstock.  For the mirror, I used silver cardstock for the mirror and gold cardstock for the handle.  I also embellshed each accesory with beads and added some gold and brown stamping ink to the edges.  I cut out several layers for each of the accessories to give them some thickness.  All the accessories have been attached to the purse with glue dots.  The purse is attached to the card with glue dots.   

 

Materials Used

Acid Free Cream Cardstock
Decorative Paper from Chocolat Jolie Paper Pad

Pink and Brown Cardstock from Bazzill Basics

Beads

Machine Stitching

Gold & Brown Stamping Pad

Vintage Inspired Jeweled Blank Handmade Card

I made this card a few months ago using some this great heavy decorative paper from the Chocolat Jolie Paper Pad.  I wanted to do a little something with panels and came up with this design.  Not really complex but think it came out fairly well.  

I layered the white card stock card with pink cardstock (from the Jolie pad) and then worked on layering the panels.  The top two panels and the bottom panel are 3 layers (brown cardstock, decorative brown cardstock, and a embossed decorative pink cardstock) all from the Chocolat Jolie Paper Pad. 

I had these old antique looking jewels (top two panels) that I picked up at a garage sale sometime in the past few years.  I knew they would be great for a card but didn't have any idea what exactly I would do with them.  The larger shell-shaped jewel is from an earring I wore when I was in middle school (yes, 1980's).  The top two jewels are attached using wire and the large jewel is attached with a gold brad.   


Materials Used
Acid Free White Cardstock
Decorative Paper from Chocolat Jolie Paper Pad

Jewels 

Wire and Brads

 

Quilled Baby Congratulations Handmade Cards

I have made two quilled Baby Congratulations cards for my friend Crystal.  All she told me was that she needed a congratulations card and for whatever reason, I decided that they both needed to be quilled.  

The first one I made was for one of her friends that lives in Hawaii.  So, I went for a Hawaiian theme.  I had this light yellow and sage leaf embossed decorative paper that would be perfect for the card. I layered the decorative paper on light yellow cardstock and a light olive green card stock.  I found the perfect design for the quilled baby carriage at Inna's Creations.  I quilled some orange flowers to give it more of an island fell.   The Ho'omaika'i 'Ana (Congratulations in Hawaiian) tag is printed, sponged with stamping ink and mounted to give the tag a 3D effect.

For the second card, she wanted me to do a navy theme.  I was stumped.  What the heck was I going to do.  I decided a quilled stork carrying a baby would be ocean like and a quilled anchor would add the Navy touch. The card has several layers.  First I machine stitched the navy blue cardstock on off-white cardstock.  The second layer is dark blue with blue polka dots cardstock from the Fall/Halloween pad I purchased from Oriental Trading Company last year.  The third layer is this decorative washed blue cardstock from It's Time Breaking Free Adventure Series by Jen Wilson. 

The quilled anchor sits on two separate layers created using the polka dots cardstock and a decorative blue waves paper (Surf's Up) from My Mind's Eye by Zoe Pearn.  The Congratulations tag is also layered using light blue cardstock and white cardstock that has been sponged with blue stamping ink. 

I layered and machine stitched the inside of the card to match the front.  And there you go....many hours later...the card is complete and ready to send.

Materials Used For the Hawaiian Themed Baby Congratulations Card
Acid Free White Cardstock
Yellow and Olive Green Cardstock
Light Yellow and Sage Leaf Embossed Decorative Paper

Quilling Paper
Yellow and Light Green Stamping Pad 

Materials Used For the Anchor's Away Baby Congratulations Card
Acid Free White Cardstock
Navy Blue Cardstock

Dark Blue Polk Dots Decorative Paper form Fall/Halloween Pad by Oriental Trading Company

Washed Blue Decorative Paper (It's Time) - Breaking Free Adventure Series by Jen Wilson
Blue Waves Decorative Paper (Surf's Up) - My Mind's Eye by Zoe Pearn

Quilling Paper

Machine Stitching
Blue Stamping Pad

Add Your Etsy Mini to Blogger

I found this great blogger at Simply Wired Custom Jewelery who has detailed how to add your Etsy Mini to your blog.  Check out her site.

I'm going to post her 1st Step just for reference.  
Add Your Etsy Mini to Blogger

This tutorial covers adding an Etsy Mini to your blog. For this example, I'll be showing you how to add the Mini to one of your sidebar columns (rather than directly in a blog post). Since the sidebar content remains static regardless of what blog post a user chooses to view, I figured this would be the most commonly used option.

Alrighty...here we go (by the way, if the pics are hard to view, you can always click on them for a larger version):

Step 1: From Your Etsy, click the Etsy Mini link, located at the bottom left of the screen (for this screen capture, I highlighted it for you so it would stick out better).

Asian Inspired Red Flowers

For the past several months, I have been creating a lot of Asian themed cards.  I really love this red flower paper.  It is from this Asian inspired heavy embossed pad that I got a few months ago.  I should of wrote down the name of the pad before I tore out all of the paper.  Live and learn.  The paper is really heavy and tearing the edges adds a great touch to the overall look of the card.

I layered the white card stock card with heavy burgundy paper first.  I sponged burgundy ink from a stamping pad to the paper to give it a little more color.  I then used some tan and green cardstock for the second and third layers.  I tore the edges and inked them with brown, burgundy, and black stamping pads to add some color and worn look.  I then mounted the red flower paper adding the same stamp ink to the sides.

The card itself is very simple but elegant.  I decorated the inside of the card as well.  If you are interested in purchasing the card, visit my etsy store
http://www.etsy.com/listing/48482927/asian-inspired-red-flowers-blank

Materials Used
Acid Free White Cardstock
Tan and Green Cardstock
Asian Red Flower Heavy Embossed Paper
Burgundy, Brown, and Black Stamping Pad

Japanese Fan on Pressed Flower Background

The Pagoda Cricut cartridge is fab. How can yoiu go wrong with a cartridge that features Kanji (Chinese characters used in Japanese writing). Check out Capadia Designs for great pictures of the booklet and information about the features of the cartridge.

There's going to be a lot that I can with this particular cartridge. I didn't even know here to begin. I figured I should start off simple and chose the fan design1. I love the flowers on the fan. A little painful for my machine to cut out the detail of the flowers. I had to help the cut with an X-Acto knife. Well worth the final product.

The white cardstock card is layered on textured light brown paper I found at Flax's. It was a bit expensive but I really love the texture. It is soft but a little but grainy. It went perfect with the pressed flower paper (also purchased at Flax's). Instead of a straight cut, I ripped the pressed flower paper to give the edges a little more of texture. I think the effect looks great especially with the fan die cut image.

For the fan I cut out several layers. For the base I used black card stock and then layered it with gold cardstock. The top layer with the flower detail was cut using sage green card stock from Bazzill Basics Paper. I finished the fan off by brushing black and gold stamping ink on the edges and on the flowers. The inside of the card is also layered with coordinating paper.

Materials Used
Acid Free White Cardstock
Textured Light Brown Paper (1st Layer)
Pressed Flower Paper (2nd Layer)
Cardstock Colors for Fan (white, black sage green)
Black & Gold Stamping Ink

Matryoshka Russian Doll Handmade Birthday Card

A bought a whole bunch of Cricut Cartridges a couple of weeks ago. CricutMachine.com was having a spectacular sale on all of their cartridges. I went a little crazy but ended up spending under $100.00 on 5 cartridges. You can't beat that especially when most of the great cartridges run anywhere $40.00 to $80.00. I usually buy my cartridges from ebay because I can get them for a fairly reseasonable price. But CricutMachine.com has great deals.

I love my Cricut and find it I find it helpful to get a really good look at the cartridges before I decide to purchase them. The web and blogs have great photos of the booklets for many of the cartridges. Capadia Designs has some good photos of the booklets. Diane posts great pictures of the booklets and has reviewed some of the cartridges. I really wanted to the from the Paisley cartridge for some cards that I had been thinking about but wasn't sure about the rest of the images. Checking out Diane's site sold me.

The Paisley cartridge is awesome and not only do I love the Russian doll image, the whole cartridge has sparked my creative juices. But I am in love with the Russian dolls. Lynn over at A Moment in Time has a great pop-up card design that I am hoping she will let me use for one of my creations.

The card is mounted in three layers (not including the heavy white cardstock paper that is used for the base of the card). Layer 1: I used is this burgundy cardstock that I had for years. I think I got it in bulk at Office Depot for a Psychology poster presentation I did way back in the day. Layer 2: Burning Ember form Bazzill Basics Paper. I love the color. I need to go back to Michael's and stock up on this color for my Fall cards. Layer 3: This paper is rather thin but I love the design. It's from My Mind's Eye's Complete Boy pad. The pad has some great designs for using with die cuts and background work on your cards.

The Matryoshka Russian Doll was made using several cut-outs of card stock from Bazzill Basics Paper. I used scraps that I had so I am not sure what the name of the colors are but I the shades I used are the following: white for the main card, then black to add a little more thickness and for the hair and eyebrows, red for the blush and center of the flower, pink for the lips, two different shades of orange for the head scarf and the flowers. The dress was mad from this gorgeous paisley paper from Anna Griffin, Inc. I love the colors.

The handwritten Happy Birthday tag is layered using the same paper for the used for the layering of the entire card. As usual, I also layered the inside of the card. I decided to add some machine stitching to the front of the card as well as the tag.

If you are interested in purchasing the card, I am selling it at my etsy store
(www.etsy.com/listing/49939832/matryoshka-russian-doll-handmade)


Materials Used
Acid Free White Cardstock
Burgundy Cardstock (1st Layer)
Bazzill Basics Paper - Burning Ember (2nd Layer)
Cardstock from My Mind's Eye "Complete Boy" Pad (3rd Layer)
Cardstock Colors for Matryoshka Doll (white, black, red, pink, two different shades of orange)
Anna Griffin Paisley Paper
Red Packing Cord
Machine Stitching (Brown Thread)